Hari Vamadevan, regional manager, UK and West Africa, DNV GL - Oil and GasDNV GL, a quality assurance and risk management company, has commissioned the operation of a versatile unit for large explosion research at Spadeadam Research and Testing in the UK

The chamber supports not only a joint industry project (JIP) initiative, but also an identified need in the market place and they have just completed five commissioning runs of different explosion severity.

Spadeadam was engaged in 2017 to run near full-scale explosion experiments for a new DNV GL-led JIP, CostFX.

Dan Allason, head of research and innovation at Spadeadam, DNV GL – Oil and Gas, said, “The successful commissioning of this chamber for the CostFX project has shown it to be capable of delivering explosion loadings in excess of two bar with durations greater than 200 milli second. This is well-suited to providing the types of loads required for the project and will also provide a world leading capability for other explosion research.”

The project is driven by a need to improve and align knowledge between HSE, fluid dynamic and structural disciplines with explosion load criteria. The objective is to reduce complexity and over design in current models and methodologies for explosion protection, while balancing demand for valid, accountable safety margins.

It became apparent during the course of the JIP that a larger, partially confined explosion area, would give depth and validity to the results.

Hari Vamadevan, regional manager, UK and West Africa, said, “The explosion chamber is one of many solutions we offer at Spadeadam to improve our testing and analytical work. It is a good example of an investment made through observing research, speaking to customers, making improvements and providing a solution that will help test new and safer products.”